Average land prices in Colombo increased by 10 percent in second half of 2017

Land values in Sri Lanka’s commercial capital Colombo on average has increased 10.4 percent according to the biannual Land Price Index compiled by Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

The Central Bank compiles and analyses several indicators, in order to monitor the developments in the real estate sector. Accordingly, the Land Price Index (LPI) is compiled biannually covering the Colombo District since 1998.

In the compilation process of LPI, CBSL uses the land price data collected by the Valuation Department of Sri Lanka covering around 50 centers of five Divisional Secretariat (DS) divisions in the Colombo District. Colombo, Dehiwala, Homagama, Kaduwela and Kesbewa are the five DS divisions considered in the LPI.

In view of the diverse nature of the land use and to maintain homogeneity, three indices for residential, commercial and industrial lands are computed separately. The overall LPI is computed by taking the average of these three sub-indices.

According to the data, the Residential land prices increased by 9.7 percent and Commercial land values by 11.2 percent while Industrial land price increased by 10.1 percent.

On year on year basis for the period ending December 2017, LPI recorded a 10.4 percent increase, continuing the recent trend in land price movements in the Colombo district. All three sub-indices of LPI (Residential, Commercial and Industrial) contributed to this increase.